Lesson Notes for November 18, 2009:
Who the Heck are You?
Intro
[Change PowerPoint slide to “The Gospel According to Buddy the Elf”] As most of you know, starting tonight and continuing the first three Wednesday nights of December, we will be looking at the biblical account of Christmas with the help of Buddy the Elf in a series we’re calling “The Gospel According to Buddy the Elf.” Each week’s lesson title is a quote from the movie, and each week we’ll watch the clip from the movie that corresponds with that quote. We will then use it to discuss a key principle about the real Christmas. We’ll also have other fun illustrations, skits, and such mixed in. And I will be coming through on the big surprise I’ve been telling you about!
Tonight we’re going to talk about “Who the Heck are You?” In this scene, Buddy the Elf had discovered that Santa was coming to the store Gimbels so he had stayed up all night to decorate the place. In this scene, he finally catches a glimpse of Santa and well, you’ll see what happens… [Play movie clip; when clip is finished, change slide to “Who the Heck are You?”]
[While clip is playing, quickly change into Buddy the Elf costume. After the clip is over, return to do the lesson in the costume.]
Intro
[Change PowerPoint slide to “The Gospel According to Buddy the Elf”] As most of you know, starting tonight and continuing the first three Wednesday nights of December, we will be looking at the biblical account of Christmas with the help of Buddy the Elf in a series we’re calling “The Gospel According to Buddy the Elf.” Each week’s lesson title is a quote from the movie, and each week we’ll watch the clip from the movie that corresponds with that quote. We will then use it to discuss a key principle about the real Christmas. We’ll also have other fun illustrations, skits, and such mixed in. And I will be coming through on the big surprise I’ve been telling you about!
Tonight we’re going to talk about “Who the Heck are You?” In this scene, Buddy the Elf had discovered that Santa was coming to the store Gimbels so he had stayed up all night to decorate the place. In this scene, he finally catches a glimpse of Santa and well, you’ll see what happens… [Play movie clip; when clip is finished, change slide to “Who the Heck are You?”]
[While clip is playing, quickly change into Buddy the Elf costume. After the clip is over, return to do the lesson in the costume.]
Lesson
In this clip, we see that Buddy the Elf was not at all impressed with the Santa that came to Gimbels. He says, “Who the heck are you?” Why was Buddy so unimpressed? (Allow for response)
Buddy was unimpressed because the Santa was a phony Santa; he was an imposter; he wasn’t the real Santa. Buddy was all ready to celebrate Santa’s arrival, but as soon as he saw the Santa was a phony, he had no desire to celebrate his arrival any more.
You know, there are a lot of phony things that have worked their way into Christmas. And these days, there are a lot of people who celebrate those phony things. They’re not the real reasons for Christmas; they’re imposters. But often times, they’re the only things celebrated. Many people sacrifice the real reason for the phony reasons. They miss out on the true reason for Christmas.
Why is it that Buddy didn’t celebrate the phony Santa but many people do celebrate the phony reasons for Christmas? (Allow for response)
The reason Buddy didn’t celebrate the phony Santa is because he recognized him as being phony. He says at one point during that exchange, “you’re an imposter!” Buddy was able to recognize that the Santa was an imposter. Why do you think Buddy was able to recognize the Santa as an imposter? (Allow for response)
Buddy knew that the Gimbels’ Santa was an imposter because he knew the real Santa. Buddy grew up knowing the real Santa. He had a friendship with him. It was obvious to him that this Santa was a fake.
See, I believe that the reason many people celebrate the phony reasons for Christmas, missing out on the real reason is because they don’t know that they are the phony reasons. They think they are the real reasons for Christmas. They have been deceived to think that it is what Christmas is really about. And the reason they don’t recognize these things as being the phony reasons is because they don’t know the real reason.
Just like Buddy couldn’t have known that the Gimbels’ Santa was a phony unless he knew the real Santa, we cannot recognize all the phony aspects of Christmas unless we know the real reason for Christmas!
I want to be clear on this. I’m not saying that all these other things that have become part of Christmas are bad. In fact, I enjoy the various things that come with the Christmas season. I love the food and family. I love the Christmas music and movies. I love the snowmen and gift exchanges and Christmas trees and decorations. It’s not that we shouldn’t enjoy these things; it’s that we shouldn’t spend so much of our focus celebrating on these things that we miss out on the real reason. We can’t let these things replace the real reason of Christmas. We must be careful not to let these things cause us to become greedy and selfish. We must be careful not to get so caught up in these things that we forget what Christmas is really about. If it was about all these other things, it would be called Otherthingsmas instead of Christmas. But it’s not, it’s Christmas, which means that Christ should be the main focus.
So, how do we balance things so that we can enjoy the extras of Christmas but still maintain the real reason as our focus? Well, the “Johnson family” is going to come help us out by showing us a proper way to celebrate Christmas in a skit I like to call “A Johnson Family Christmas.”
[Perform “A Johnson Family Christmas.”]
Let’s get back to the question: how do we balance things so that we can enjoy the extras of Christmas but still maintain the real reason as our focus? The most important and significant thing we can do is simple: know the real reason! When I say “know the real reason” I don’t mean just know about it. I mean actually take the time in prayer and reading the Bible to get to know Jesus. We’re going to close this message by doing exactly that. Mother Johnson is going to read the biblical account of the real reason for Christmas and in doing so we will get to know Jesus a little better.
[Read Luke 2:1-14]
Jesus’ birth is the real reason for Christmas. In the next three lessons, we’re going to take a closer look at why Jesus’ birth is so important so we can better understand the significance of putting our focus on him during the Christmas season.
[Close in Prayer]
